Managing fibromyalgia can't be done with pills alone. For longer-lasting relief, try a body-mind treatment like yoga. Learn why this age-old practice is great for sufferers and get 5 easy, at-home poses to reduce pain, fatigue and stress...

One of the newest ways to fight fibromyalgia is an age-old health technique.

Yoga, the now-trendy ancient Indian practice, improves fibromyalgia symptoms such as pain, anxiety and fatigue, according to a 2012 study detailed in the Clinical Journal of Pain.

A weekly two-hour program of low-impact poses, meditation and breathing exercises helped get fibromyalgia sufferers moving and also improved sleep and mood, according to James Carson, Ph.D., lead researcher and an assistant professor of anesthesiology and perioperative medicine in the OHSU School of Medicine.

“Yoga promotes body awareness and control that improves the ability to reduce muscle tension and pain,” says Leslie J. Crofford, M.D., chief of rheumatology at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine in Lexington.

How? “It teaches you to identify which muscles are clenched and then release them,” says Shoosh Lettick Crotzer, yoga teacher and author of Yoga for Fibromyalgia(Rodmell Press).

Preparing to Pose Of course, yoga can’t ease discomfort – mental or physical – if practicing it hurts. That’s why it’s important to get a green light from your doctor first and start slowly.

Try one or two poses in your first few sessions, move carefully, and pay attention to what's happening in your body, Crotzer says.

Hold a tolerable version of the pose, “take a really slow breath and visualize expansion in any places that feel tight as you inhale, and release as you exhale,” she says. “It will help reduce the feeling of the pain.”

As you become more comfortable in each pose, gradually increase the number of days you practice per week and/or poses you do in each session.

The PosesFor all seated poses, you'll need a nonskid mat and a chair. You may also want a folded blanket or pillow: Your abdomen can relax more if your knees are angled slightly below your hips. If they’re not, sit higher by putting the folded blanket or pillow on the chair seat.

How to do it:1. Place your chair at the edge of the mat. Sit on the seat’s front edge, with your spine lengthened and knees and feet about hip-width apart. Put your feet on the mat, directly below your knees.

4. Roll onto the center of your sitting bones. Feel how the spine lengthens and seems lighter. Your chest opens, chin moves back, and the back of your neck lengthens.

5. Sitting in alignment takes less effort and reduces muscle tension in the hips and pelvis. It can also make your back feel less tired.

6. Now bring awareness to your neck and head. Quietly move your chin forward, then draw it back, lengthening the front and back of your neck evenly. At the spot where your head feels balanced on your neck, let it rest.

7. Relax the muscles in your face and release your jaw, separating upper and lower teeth. Stay that way for at least 30 seconds, or several deep breaths.

2. Seated Hamstring Stretch PoseWhat it does:Lengthens the back of the thighs and calves, releases the pelvis.

Watch out: Skip this pose if you have sciatica or an injured hamstring.

How to do it:1. Begin in Seated Mountain Pose. Sit on a folded blanket or pillow if you need to lift your hips slightly higher than your knees.

2. Place your thumbs in the crease where your thighs meet the torso. This is where your movement will originate.

3. Extend your right leg in front of you. Lower your heel to the floor, toes pointing toward the ceiling.

4. Inhale, lift the chest, and lengthen your spine, as you slowly lower your torso forward, moving the right and left sides of the rib cage evenly.

5. Place your left forearm or hand on the left thigh, near your knee, and your right hand on the right thigh. Make sure you’re not leaning toward the left leg. If you are, adjust your position so your breastbone is centered between your legs.

6. Exhale, soften the abdomen, and relax your shoulders. You should feel a pleasant stretch in the back of your right thigh. The more you flex your foot, the more you’ll feel the stretch in your right calf.

7. Hold this pose for five full, slow breaths. Sit up slowly, and return to Seated Mountain Pose.

8. Repeat on the other side.

3. Seated Cobra PoseWhat it does:Expands the front of the chest, lengthens the spine.

Watch out:If you have diagnosed disc problems or feel discomfort when arching your back, skip this pose, and consult your doctor or therapist. Pregnant women should avoid this pose after the first trimester.

How to do it: 1.Begin in Seated Mountain Pose.

2. Bring your arms behind you, and place your hands flat on the chair seat, with fingertips facing away from you. If it’s difficult to reach the chair seat, rest just your fingertips on the seat.

3. Inhale, as you lift your ribs and gently arch your middle back.

4. Slowly lift your chin without compressing the back of your neck.

5. Exhale, and relax your shoulders down from your ears. Visualize your shoulder blades moving down with each exhalation.

6. Soften your eyes and jaw. Hold for two more rounds of breath.

7. On the last exhalation, bring your hands back to your thighs, palms down, and let your middle back return to normal.

8. Drop your chin for a few breaths, then rest for a few breaths in Seated Mountain Pose.

4. Seated Twist PoseWhat it does:Rotates the spine, opens the chest, relieves general back pain.

Watch out:If you have diagnosed disc problems in your lower back or feel discomfort in this pose, move carefully, or skip it and consult your doctor or therapist.

If you’re pregnant, keep the belly soft.

How to do it:1. Begin in Seated Mountain Pose.

2.Take a few breaths to center yourself, then turn toward the right, and sit sideways on your chair.

3. Sit on the full seat, not just the edge, with your right hip touching the back of the chair. Lengthen your spine and feel your feet in contact with the floor.

4. Inhale gently, leading the twist from your navel as you turn toward the right. Let your head and shoulders follow.

5. Keep both knees in the same plane; don’t allow your left knee to move forward from the right knee.

6. Reach with your right hand and hold the outer right edge of the chair back.

7. Place your left hand on the left edge. (If you can’t reach this far, place your right hand on top of the chair back and your left on the outside of your right thigh.) Exhale, and relax your shoulders.

8. Inhale and lengthen your spine, as you lead the twist from the navel.

9. Press your right hand against the chair to enhance the twist. Do not strain your neck.

10. On the inhale, feel the expansion across your front chest, side ribs and upper back.

11. Exhale, and relax your shoulders down from your ears. Still exhaling, visualize yourself coiling to the right, allowing your shoulders to follow the movement of your navel and your neck and head to follow the movement of the shoulders. Relax your eyes and jaw.

12. Hold for three rounds of breaths. On the last exhalation, uncoil and return to Seated Mountain Pose. Rest until you feel centered.

Watch out: Skip this pose if you have a cold or difficulty breathing easily, or are pregnant.

How to do it:1. Place your chair on your mat (or on a carpeted floor) and lie down on your back in front of it. For comfort, you can add a folded blanket on your mat and a pillow under your head (or under head and neck).

2. Place your legs on the chair at about a 90-degree angle to your hips. If you’re chilly, cover up with a blanket.

How Much Do You Know About Fibromyalgia?
Described by Hippocrates in ancient Greece, fibromyalgia is one of the world’s oldest medical mysteries. The disease – a complex illness marked by chronic muscle, tendon and ligament pain, fatigue and multiple tender points on the body – affects about 2% percent of Americans, most of them women. How much do you know about fibromyalgia?

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